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Company defends US men detained in Honduras

Laura Wides-munoz Associated Press

Updated:
05/31/2014 04:38:19 PM EDT

MIAMI (AP) — Six U.S. men detained for weeks in Honduras were working on a project to aid local lobster divers, associates said Saturday, and they deny violating weapons laws by failing to declare a gun.

The crew from Aqua Quest International has been held at a prison in Puerto Lempira in that Central American country since May 5, when Honduran police and Navy personnel raided their newly arrived 65-foot vessel found a weapon, according to a statement from the shipwreck salvage and research company based in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

"We initially thought it would be over as fast as it started because they broke no laws," said Stephen Mayne, brother of the company's president, Robert Mayne. Robert Mayne is one of those held.

"There's been a lot of work behind the scenes to secure their release, and we thought it would be best to go through the proper channels. And after all this time, when it didn't seem to be going anywhere, we decided to take a different approach" by making a more public appeal, he told The Associated Press.

The company says it was working on a project with aid workers and officials the town of Ahuas to help local lobster divers, who can suffer permanent damage from dives as deep as 150 feet (45 meters).

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"Ultimately the projects were going to provide some real opportunities, through flood abatement, for the local spiny lobster divers," Mayne said.

Ahuas is a Miskito Indian town in an impoverished Honduran region often exploited by drug traffickers. The area has been targeted by joint U.S.-Honduran anti-drug missions, though Stephen Mayne insisted none of the crew was involved in trafficking.

The ship did have weapons aboard for protection at sea, the company said, but officials deny they failed to properly report them to port officials when they arrived.

In addition to Robert Mayne, those detained include Michael Mayne, Nick Cook, Devon Butler, Kelly Garrett and Steve Matanich.

The company says on its website that in addition to salvage work, it carries out scientific investigation and documentation of sites.